Are You a Feminist

Are You a Feminist? "Feminism" is a loaded word that’s definition is not always easily agreed upon, but if you take notes from feminists like Caitlin Moran, author ofHow To Be A Woman, feminism is “the belief that women should be as free as men, however nuts, dim, deluded, badly dressed, fat, receding, lazy and smug they might be.” So there, that’s not too complicated, is it? It wasn’t too complicated for a group of teenage girls in the suburbs of Chicago who started a feminism club at their school. Their first task was to make a list of “current, mainstream ‘feminist idols’ they and their friends look up to.” It’s not just the list that is awesome, (what’s more awesome than Tina Fey, Emma Stone, and Mindy Kaling?) it’s the reasons the women made the list. Emma Stone is remembered for calling out sexism in media. Zoe Saldana has encouraged women to make more films and boycott movies that don’t portray women in a positive light. Of Minday Kaling, they say, “it is so refreshing to see a young woman of color who is not ashamed to be normal-sized and who is also super funny.” Amy Poehler has admitted she wants girls to “feel they can be sassy and full and weird and geeky and smart and independent, and not so withered and shriveled.” Tavi Gevinson writes about body image issues and more on her popular site Rookie. When asked if she was going to have children by a magazine, Zooey Deschanel hit back by saying, “It’s always women who get asked (that). Is anybody saying that to George Clooney?” Wanda Sykes speaks her mind (with humor). And Tina Fey is just The Man. The Woman. Let’s just start calling her The Woman.

Read the full list here, and let’s add to the list. Who did these girls forget? (You are allowed to include your grandma–she probably rocks, too!)

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...﻿Feminist perspectives on Mahabharata :
“It all starts because of a woman” is the tag line used by many people. Some sacred books say “Stay away from wine, gambling and woman.” “Woman is the door to hell”, “The heaven for a woman lies in her husband's feet”, “A Woman lacks a penis”, “Eve was born out of a bone which was from Adams rib-cage”.
What do all these quotes have in common? All these quotes ‘second’ woman, they subordinate women to men. Even in our society we follow a patriarchal system. A system wherein Women are subordinate to men. A system wherein a Man is considered the head of the family and controls women’s sexuality, labor or production, reproduction and mobility. Society, when it thinks in a man’s perspective, portrays woman subjectively. If we take a closer look at patriarchy, we see that it has a history. Where do you think, this history comes from? It definitely comes from the Epics and the Mythology our Society has constantly lived with. These Epics and Mythological stories are considered , our cultural heritage. We feed on them in order to attain our own samskars. But, it is today that we have known that our stories have a loophole somewhere. With all due respect to our Epics and Mythology, but,don’t you think that some stories were unfair to women characters of that era? Does this question not pop in your mind when you hear that Seeta goes through ‘Agnee-pariksha’ just because some laymen...

...Feminist Theory
By:
Melanie Lord, Anthony Greiter
& Zuflo Tursunovic
Feminism
• Belief in the social, political, and
economic equality of the sexes.
• The movement organized around
this belief.
Feminism
• Feminist Theory is an outgrowth of
the general movement to empower
women worldwide.
• Feminism can be defined as a
recognition and critique of male
supremacy combined with efforts
to change it.
Feminism
• The goals of feminism are:
• To demonstrate the importance of
women
• To reveal that historically women
have been subordinate to men
• To bring about gender equity.
Feminism
• Simply put:
Feminists fight for the equality of
women and argue that women
should share equally in society’s
opportunities and scare resources.
History
• You tube video
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Pq_9wu-KjTk&feature=related
History
• The origins of the feminist
movement are found in the
abolitionist movement of the
1830’s.
• Seneca Falls, New York is said to be
the birthplace of American
feminism.
History
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia
Mott spearheaded the first Women’s
Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, NY in
1848.
• The convention brought in more than
300 people.
• The discussion was focused on the
social, civil, and religious condition of
women.
History
• The convention lead to the
Declaration of Sentiments.
• Modeled after the Declaration of
Independence.
• All men and women created equal.
•...

...* Feminist criticism defines a literary theory showing how women were portrayed as less valuable than men in literature throughout history. Usually called feminist literary criticism, it studies how early writings condoned the oppression of women because men dominated society. Feminist criticism also explores how women writers were taken less seriously than male authors from a historical
A criticism advocating equal rights for women in a political,
economic, social, psychological, personal, and aesthetic sense.
Feminist Criticism is the interpretation of text as it is directed towards women or feminine characteristics. Feminist critics analyze how the literary work is influenced by a patriarchal or male dominated society. Criticism of this sort often comments upon how women are described as sub-human and thus inferior to the man. Other aspects of feminist criticism may include the analysis of how non-feminine objects or characters are described as resembling females in order to belittle them.
Early Feminism
* One of the earliest feminist writings is Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792) in which she criticizes stereotypes of women as emotional and instinctive and argues that women should aspire to the same rationality prized by men. Wollstonecraft believed that women should enjoy social, legal, and intellectual equality...

...﻿INTRODUCTION
“In Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, I suggest that defining feminism
broadly as “a movement to end sexism and sexist oppression” would enable us
to have a common political goal. . . Sharing a common goal does not imply that
women and men will not have radically divergent prospective on how that goal
mightbe reached.” (hooks 1989, 23)
Feminism is both an intellectual commitment and political movement that seeks justice for women and end sexism in all forms. It was also refer to a historically specific political movement in the US and Europe, and it also believe that there are injustices against women. Feminism was also distinguished as a history in English linked with women’s activism from the late 19th Century to the present. In the mid-1800’s the term ‘feminism’ was also used to refer to the “the qualities of females”. In French term, feministe, as a believe in and advocacy of equal rights for women based on the idea of the equality of sexes. Feminism exists as a defender of the selfish sexual and reproductive interests of ageing and/or unattractive women. The history of feminism is the history of a female sexual trade union, growing in political power in correspondence with the steady loss of female sexual power caused by the continual widening of the sexual market. It also defines as a diverse variety of beliefs, ideas, movements, and agendas for action. It consists of ideas and beliefs about what culture is like for...

...Outline and assess Feminist explanations of the relationship between gender and crime. (50 marks)
Gender is on the agenda” wrote Francis Heidensohn (1989) Feminist definition of crime is that “crime is politically informed and linked to particular interests”– of men. Before feminism, women were invisible in sociological research, this meant that explanations for female recidivism saw, female crime as a ’special case’ resulting from sexual promiscuity and biological deviance. Biological explanations for male criminality have lost credibility yet feminist research argued that biological explanations were used to understand female crimes for example the persecution of Maxine Carr. Some feminist criminologists accept that women commit less crime than men. Diana Leonard believes that the major explanation for this fact is that women are more likely to conform to rules and social controls as opposed to men. However, there are signs that this commitment to the rules may be undermined by social class and age. There are six main feminist explanations of the relationship between gender and crime.
Differential socialisation is a major feminist explanation of the relationship between gender and crime. Early feminist explanations focused on differences in the socialisation of males and females. Both Smart and Oakley suggested that males are socialised into aggressive behaviour...

...angers her so badly. She is also enraged because she sacrifices her family, her land, and her home, just to be with him. She made the sacrifices without regrets because she loved Jason. But after finding out about the marriage to the King’s daughter, she has much regret, which was forbidden in Ancient Greek culture. Medea is also comparing women, who are virtually servants, to their husbands who have freedom. She is also comparing the chauvinistic views of men with men being able to have other friends while women are to keep their eyes only on their husband and stay at home.
Jason displayed his chauvinistic qualities in the following monologue:
But you women have got into such a state of mind
That, if your life at night is good, you think you have
Everything; but, if in that quarter things go wrong,
You will consider your best and truest interest most hateful.
It would have been better far for men
To have got their children in some other way, and women
Not to have existed. Then life would have been good. (Euripides, 702)
Jason boldly conveys his, and perhaps society’s, views of sex as being for reasons of procreation only and that men only engage in this activity for the purposes of having children, that there is no pleasure in the act at all. His desire is that men can avoid the act if there was some other way to have children. As Euripides uses Jason’s chauvinistic ways in this excerpt,...

...﻿Feminist Theory
Perception: the process by which an individual receives and analyses information.
Feminist theory, or feminism, is support of equality for women and men. Although all feminists strive for gender equality, there are various ways to approach this theory, including liberal feminism, socialist feminism, and finally radical feminism. Let's take a look at the basic feminist ideas and various approaches to achieving gender equality.
Looks at ways that women can be liberated or gain more advantage.
Five basic principles:
Feminists believe in working to increase equality. Feminist thought links ideas to action, insisting we should push for change toward gender equality (and not just talk about it).
Feminists also believe in expanding human choice, the idea that both men and women should be able to develop their human traits, even if those go against the status quo. If a woman wants to be a mechanic, she should have every right and opportunity to do so.
Another feminist principle, eliminating gender stratification, proposes that laws and cultural norms that limit the income, educational, and job opportunities for women should be opposed.
The final two principles are fairly straightforward: ending sexual violence and promoting sexual freedom - that women should have control over their sexuality and reproduction.
Recognising diversity
Eliminating the...

...Feminist Theology
Feminist theology is based on the idea of "not lord but brother". Jesus Christ himself stepped outside of societies norms by befriending the outcasts of society, which included women. Women are often portrayed as the cause of or focus of evil and misdeeds in the bible. The focus of feminist theology is the perspective of theology from those who were outcast and therefore considered themselves as equals and friends to Jesus Christ. "If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church." (1 Cor.14:33-35) Feminist theologians are logical and educated with their approach to the view of the Lord as an equal who is to be believed in and epitomized rather than worshipped based on gender. The Bible is very male organized and driven but there are many feminist perspectives on the bible. The feminist perspective is very relevant to the true Christian experience. This perspective is imperative to understanding the relation of the scriptures to everyday life and tolerance. The idea of feminist theology is different from traditional theology because of this "radical" idea that women are intrinsic to the story of Jesus and the crucifixion. The divine act of creating woman is portrayed as the fall of paradise but what if woman is the creation story? What if women are what God meant for...